A Canadian gay man has been turned back twice by the US border immigration after they went through his gay dating website profile on Scruff and BBRT.
André,30, who did not give full name for fear of Immigration officials retaliating against his person said that the officers have taken him for a sex worker after they saw what he wrote on his profile"looking for loads" and have believed he was seeking sex to obtain cash.
He said he was visiting New Orleans to meet with his boyfriend, but while he was at the Vancouver customs preclearance, he was subjected to secondary inspection. The officer asked for his computer, phone and other possessions, and also demanded passwords for the devices.
After an hour or two, after André missed his flight, the immigration officer re-appeared and started to question him. André says“He came back and just started grilling me. ‘Is this your email?’ and it was an email attached to a Craigslist account for sex ads. He asked me, ‘Is this your account on Scruff? Is this you on BBRT?’ I was like, ‘Yes, this is me.’”
The officer asked what he had meant when he wrote "looking for loads" and all efforts to explain to the official was not working out, as he has seen in his face he was ready to send him back. He then asked for the interrogation to stop, and asked if he was to go back to Canada, is he he barred for life, and the officer said no, so he accepted the offer.
After a month of his ordeal, André decided to try again and visit his boyfriend, but this time, he had a letter from his employee, bank statements, pay stubs, lease agreements, phone contracts. He held all these documents to prove to the officer he intends to travel back to Canada.
When he went through secondary inspection again, the officers did not ask for his passwords, because it was saved in their system. Also, he had wiped off his phone of any sex apps, browser history and messages that will change the officers view of him soliciting money for sex, but instead this raises suspicion from the officers.
They went through my computer. They were looking through Word documents,” André says. “I had nude photos of myself on my phone, and they were questioning who this person was. It was really humiliating and embarrassing.
They said, ‘Next time you come through, don’t have a cleared phone,’ and that was it. I wasn’t let through. He said I’m a suspected escort. You can’t really argue with them because you’re trapped.
The whole incident cost André $1200 on non-refundable flights and hotel on the two cancelled trips.